New clients on Skype?
Thread poster: Elke Fehling
Elke Fehling
Elke Fehling  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:27
Member (2005)
English to German
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Aug 15, 2018

Is it normal that potential clients contact you via Skype or even WhatsApp nowadays? I just had a Skype call from an agency I have never worked with, and then another agency contacted my via Skype chat and asked about my rates. What about old-fashioned emails?

 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:27
Member (2007)
English
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Any way will do Aug 15, 2018

Elke Fehling wrote:
Is it normal that potential clients contact you via Skype or even WhatsApp nowadays? I just had a Skype call from an agency I have never worked with, and then another agency contacted my via Skype chat and asked about my rates. What about old-fashioned emails?

I know a lot of people like to use WhatsApp; and Skype tends to be used a lot for instant messaging. I can't imagine either would be used by any potential client who's running a well-managed ship though. It would be the favourite of those you are processing tremendous volumes on a "yesterday" basis, with no time for doing due diligence such as checking up on whether the supplier is actually a professional translator. Yes, the dreaded bottom-feeders!

I would never make my Skype address available to potential clients, nor would I publish my phone numbers - for exactly the above reason. OTOH, some of my actual existing clients do have either or both. Mind you, I do ask for email to be used first, and exclusively for non-urgent communications, as I find the other methods so intrusive when I'm concentrating. If they've got some massive problem - during my normal working hours - that I've failed to respond to quickly enough, that's another matter.


Elke Fehling
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Elif Baykara Narbay
Morano El-Kholy
 
Mario Acosta
Mario Acosta  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 12:27
English to Spanish
Contacts Aug 15, 2018

I would say yes, it's a new way. A potential client tried to contact me via Skype a few months ago. I believe that from now on, we have to tell to all our potential clients which are our most used contact ways.

 
Elke Fehling
Elke Fehling  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:27
Member (2005)
English to German
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TOPIC STARTER
Good point Aug 15, 2018

Sheila Wilson wrote:

I would never make my Skype address available to potential clients, nor would I publish my phone numbers - for exactly the above reason. OTOH, some of my actual existing clients do have either or both. Mind you, I do ask for email to be used first, and exclusively for non-urgent communications, as I find the other methods so intrusive when I'm concentrating. If they've got some massive problem - during my normal working hours - that I've failed to respond to quickly enough, that's another matter.


My telephone numbers are available for everybody and that's ok. But I don't usually give me Skype address to people I don't know. So I have no idea how this company got my address...?!

Yes, you are right. You can't do due diligence an Skype - I can't, and the client cannot either. It's agood point, thank you.


 
Elke Fehling
Elke Fehling  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:27
Member (2005)
English to German
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TOPIC STARTER
Potential client Aug 15, 2018

Mario Acosta wrote:

I would say yes, it's a new way. A potential client tried to contact me via Skype a few months ago. I believe that from now on, we have to tell to all our potential clients which are our most used contact ways.


And what happened to that potenial client?


 
Jean Lachaud
Jean Lachaud  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:27
English to French
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Is your Skype number in your profile Aug 15, 2018

If your Skype number is in your public profile, why wouldn't anyone use it?

 
Felicita Ratti
Felicita Ratti  Identity Verified
Austria
Local time: 16:27
Member (2019)
English to Italian
+ ...
It depends... Culture, manners, country of residence Aug 15, 2018

If the Skype id is what I call a"mixed" one (used by the private person and by his/her professional/corporate identity as well), good manners would probably suggest that one ask for permission to call (via e-mail/instant messaging/any other less intrusive means). This is how I act, by the way, and this is how people usually behave towards me, luckily. Unfortunately, what is considered "good manners" or "good professional practice" somewhere might be considered "bad" somewhere else.

... See more
If the Skype id is what I call a"mixed" one (used by the private person and by his/her professional/corporate identity as well), good manners would probably suggest that one ask for permission to call (via e-mail/instant messaging/any other less intrusive means). This is how I act, by the way, and this is how people usually behave towards me, luckily. Unfortunately, what is considered "good manners" or "good professional practice" somewhere might be considered "bad" somewhere else.

Skype/WhatsApp are almost the same as your telephone number. People nowadays can look up your name, your e-mail, your phone number and find you, if you are somewhere to be found. I don't see how this would make due diligence "impossible", to be honest. But maybe we "Austrians" are a special case. Let me explain.

As an Austrian permanent resident and as a sole trader licensed in Austria, I am compelled to make everything public, even those things that are "mixed" - both private and corporate! (Fancy having people knowing where I live!) So I cannot really object to anything, not until someone or something proves to be unsuitable/unprofessional. I only ask people who contact me professionally to use the company Messenger and not the private one. I might even add a corporate Skype account soon, in order to avoid mixing-up and mix-ups. But it takes less than a minute to look me up and find 90% of my accounts and contact data.
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Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:27
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not a typical method for initiating contact Aug 15, 2018

I would find a Skype call out of nowhere from someone I do not know terribly intrusive, but I do think that Skype text chats and phone conversations can be useful and time-saving ways of communicating after initial contact has been made.

Katalin Szilárd
 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 09:27
Dutch to English
+ ...
My first response Aug 15, 2018

My first and only response would be: please send me an email.

Ester Vidal
Morano El-Kholy
Elke Fehling
Cécile A.-C.
 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:27
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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I think we are not talking about Skype calls here Aug 16, 2018

Felicita Ratti wrote:

If the Skype id is what I call a"mixed" one (used by the private person and by his/her professional/corporate identity as well), good manners would probably suggest that one ask for permission to call (via e-mail/instant messaging/any other less intrusive means).


Simply the topic is about chat on Skype.

My experience is that in most cases, chatting with someone who initiated a conversation by Skype was a total waste of time. They tended to ask your a lot of questions, most of which could be irrelevant.


Morano El-Kholy
 


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